Monday, December 29, 2008

Eating again

I once had a teenaged Russian student. Dmitri's family had been brought over by the local synagogue,which was rather taken aback at just how secular his family was.
After the congregation had gathered for a Seder, Dmitri told me all about it.
"Very good food, Mrs. Germer, but strange. No ham."
"Dmitri, a lot of Jews don't eat ham."
"Strange.... No sausage, either."
"Dmitri, a lot of Jews don't eat sausage."
He looked at me and asked, "Bacon? Pork chops?" and when I shook my head, he exclaimed despairingly, "Jesus Christ, Mrs. Germer. What we eat?"

That's sort of how I feel these days. The nutritionist brought me a set of instructions, with a short list of "good" foods and a much longer list of "bad" ones. Naturally, I'll eat whatever is necessary to help me heal. But white bread? No whole grains? Meat is good, but veggie burgers made with beans are bad. Ice cream is good, but the nuts to go on top are bad. It's totally counterintuitive.

In other words, carbohydrates are okay as long as they're refined within an inch of their lives. No fresh fruits, no vegetables with fiber.... Jerry is telling everyone that we're on the Trailer Trash diet. It is amazingly hard to take everything that we've thought for years is healthy and scrap it, only to eat what we've sneered at.

It's just for a couple of weeks, and then they've promised I can go back (slowly) to eating what tastes right, and good.

But in the mean time, Jesus Christ, what we eat?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

And brown rice is bad and mashed potatoes are good? Well, this can't last for too long--hang in there!

A-muse said...

Lucie, when one of my sons was younger, his preferred diet was definitely "trailer trash." He would have begged to eat at your house!!!!!
It is hard to figure though. Meat better on the tummy than a veggie burger? Ice Cream?
Oh well......

Catherine said...

OMG, the Trailer Trash Diet! Priceless! Isn't it appropriate that my verification word is "irruted?"

"I cain't eat none o them fresh veggytables, doctor sez my innards will git all irruted!"

OTOH, a diet of mashed potatoes and ice cream on doctor's advice does sound kinda...good

Arctic-mermaid said...

I'd like to come for a visit right now!!! Perfect. I've stayed away from ice cream and chips for months. Could be I need it for my health and well being. One never knows...

Don't forget jujubes.